Chapter 278: Making the Three Parties Enter the Fray, The Choice of Scapegoat: Zuranon
Upon hearing the White Mist Witch mention that there was finally some movement from the Holy Kingdom, Tang Zheng's eyes lit up, and he strode into the castle's great hall.
He walked up to the large, pieced-together wooden table.
Taking out a map of the Abelion Hills, he spread it across the tabletop, then looked toward the border with the Holy Kingdom.
The White Mist Witch followed closely behind Tang Zheng, also looking at the map on the table, though she couldn't understand it.
"Master seems to be in a good mood," the White Mist Witch thought to herself. She didn't really understand what her master was currently doing, but since he had given the order, she would naturally do her best to carry it out.
"Which faction are they from?" Tang Zheng suddenly asked.
The White Mist Witch's bright yellow pupils froze for a moment. She opened her mouth, only to realize she didn't know either.
Did such a thing need to be distinguished?
She only knew that some humans had secretly contacted the ogres sent to the Holy Kingdom's border. As for the identity of these humans, she was completely unaware.
"Forget it. It's not important anyway."
Seeing no response, Tang Zheng also realized this and shook his head with a light laugh.
The situation in the Holy Kingdom was actually quite complicated. Leaving aside the regional division between the Northern Holy Kingdom and the Southern Holy Kingdom, the various noble factions were numerous due to the influence of the Holy Princess.
The sound of somewhat weak footsteps came from outside the door.
Lizardman Kuru Xue had recovered some of her strength. With staggering steps, she cautiously walked in from outside.
In the great hall, she saw Tang Zheng observing the map and, standing to one side, the White Mist Witch, who was casting a disdainful glance at her.
Wrapped in straw, Lizardman Kuru Xue stood in a corner. Her arms, where fine white scales peeked through the gaps, hung limply in front of her as she lowered her head even further.
She had already assisted Tang Zheng in performing the 'Cloud Manipulation' magic. She hadn't been told what to do next.
A sense of confusion and helplessness rose in Lizardman Kuru Xue's heart.
"What do they want?" Tang Zheng didn't mind Lizardman Kuru Xue hearing the following information.
"Gold ore."
The White Mist Witch immediately replied.
"Gold, is it."
"Such a simple and direct transaction. As expected, this kind of thing is impossible to stop from spreading among the soldiers. It leaks like a sieve," Tang Zheng shook his head and chuckled a few times.
"That makes sense. After all, they're dealing with their own people, so why be overly cautious?"
After the first two parties of ogres carrying gold ore were killed at the Holy Kingdom's fortress wall, he had successively sent out three more groups of ogres.
These three groups carried items like magical beast hides, herbs, and gems.
If the first two times were accidents, then for it to happen five times in a row, with him proactively switching to different high-value items...
Even the most foolish person would probably realize that there was something unusual about the ogres appearing beneath the fortress wall.
"The relationship between the Holy Kingdom and the Abelion Hills is like fire and water. However, even with the worst of relationships, for some people, profit is far more real."
Tang Zheng stared silently at the map, his gaze profound, a cold sneer playing on his lips.
That's right.
His ultimate goal in sending out the ogres was to initiate a transaction with the Holy Kingdom to purchase large quantities of grain and food supplies.
This didn't require a very complicated plan.
There was a saying from his previous life that Tang Zheng didn't like but nonetheless agreed with.
When profit reaches 10%, they will be ready to move; at 50%, they will take risks; at 100%, they dare to trample on all the laws of man.
When the profit reaches 300%—they dare to risk the gallows!
And the profit Tang Zheng was offering was far more than just threefold.
Gold ore, magical beast hides, magic materials, various minerals, valuable and rare medicinal herbs, agate, crystal, gems, and so on.
The Abelion Hills lacked none of these!
The size of the hills was roughly equivalent to the entire Northern Holy Kingdom, yet the demi-human population in the hills was only between 100,000 and 150,000.
And the population of the entire Northern Holy Kingdom?
A full 3.5 million!
This wasn't a simple matter of population size, but that the demi-human population simply couldn't use so many resources.
"Crusch Lulu, what do you think is the most valuable thing for the various demi-human races of the Abelion Hills?"
Tang Zheng withdrew his gaze from the map and looked at Crusch Lulu, who was standing in the corner.
Being questioned so suddenly, Crusch Lulu was visibly stunned. She raised her head nervously, a look of serious contemplation in her red pupils.
She hadn't been in the Abelion Hills for long, but through her contact with other demi-human races, she had gained some understanding.
For some reason, Crusch Lulu was reminded of the former lizardman race. After a brief moment of thought, she spoke softly, "It's food."
"As expected of a former tribe leader."
Tang Zheng praised her.
Crusch Lulu lowered her head in embarrassment.
Food, weapons, and slaves—these three things were what all the demi-human races in the Abelion Hills cared about most, and "food" was ranked first.
There was no unified government here. The various demi-human races were completely independent and hostile towards one another.
In such a chaotic situation, it was impossible to have a systematic currency exchange of gold, silver, and copper coins like in the human nations.
"Barter" was the most direct method of transaction for the demi-humans of the hills. Something like gold was completely unnecessary for the major demi-human races.
With a population of just over a hundred thousand, the Abelion Hills could fully support them, and with the pride of these demi-human races, they would never deign to trade with humans.
Furthermore!
On either side of the Abelion Hills was the Holy Kingdom, a sworn enemy, and the "human-supremacist" Slane Theocracy.
The three sides wished they could bash each other's brains out. How could they possibly compromise and trade with one another?
However, Tang Zheng didn't care about that. What he wanted was to make all three parties enter the fray.
"Send twenty ogres. Take half a cart of gold ore over first, as a greeting gift for the first transaction."
Tang Zheng spoke calmly, his gaze tranquil.
"They're getting off easy. Let's just consider it 'paying a fortune for a fast horse'... though using that phrase here is a bit derogatory."
The White Mist Witch didn't quite understand Tang Zheng's last sentence but nodded quickly and said softly, "Should we send Gagaran along? He lived in the human kingdom for a long time and is better at communicating with humans."
"No need."
Tang Zheng shook his head with a strange smile. "He is the 'king' ruling these ogres from behind the scenes. It's too early for him to show himself."
"Hee hee, understood." The White Mist Witch let out a giggle of realization, and her mist-wreathed figure departed the great hall with extreme lightness.
*Tap...*
*Tap...*
Tang Zheng tapped a finger on the tabletop, running through his plan in his mind once more.
He had spent a great deal of energy and effort on this recently, which had slowed his leveling pace. But once the plan was implemented, the Experience he had missed out on during this wasted time could be easily made up.
As long as the food supply from the Holy Kingdom was secured, he could have the goblins reproduce in large numbers, along with the equally prolific Blue Maggot Tribe.
It would be equivalent to launching a second "breeding plan" in the Abelion Hills.
The identity Tang Zheng was currently assuming was that of a mysterious magic caster who manipulated the undead. Creating large numbers of demi-human corpses, like those of goblins, wouldn't arouse significant suspicion.
Of course, this was only one of his objectives.
Tang Zheng also needed to guard against the possibility of things getting out of hand. As a precaution, he needed to find someone to take the fall, thereby further reducing the suspicion and attention directed at him.
"Zuranon!"
This organization flashed through Tang Zheng's mind.
He could be considered to have a significant connection with Zuranon, seeing as two of its members had died at his hands.
Er, one of them.
Khajiit didn't die; he was resurrected by that Alliance Leader.
Through his two successive encounters with members of Zuranon, Tang Zheng had indirectly gained some understanding of that mysterious Alliance Leader's power.
It was within a controllable range.
"Come here."
"Ah, yes."
Startled by Tang Zheng's words, Crusch Lulu walked over in small steps, stopping in front of him.
"Drink this."
Looking at Crusch Lulu, who was completely wrapped in straw, Tang Zheng took out a bottle of red potion and placed it on the table.
The red liquid in the potion bottle was dragon blood!
"Dragon blood" was extremely precious.
Crusch Lulu's ability to unleash 'Cloud Manipulation' through a ritual showed him her greater value. Thus, he didn't mind using some dragon blood to observe the effects.
Tang Zheng had never forgotten that Crusch Lulu possessed the 'Dragon Rune Mentor' Job, which was related to dragons.
Furthermore, she was the only one among the lizardmen to have the 'Lizardman Awakened Ancient Species' race Class.
This white-scaled variant, completely different from ordinary lizardmen, made one suspect that she might genuinely possess a dragon's bloodline.
Based on her appearance, she bore some resemblance to the legendary Elder Coffin Dragon Lord before he became an undead.
Whether she truly had the bloodline of the Elder Coffin Dragon Lord, Tang Zheng couldn't be certain.
When he had killed Crusch Lulu and placed her corpse in his item box, he truly hadn't considered the possibility of reviving her later.
At the time, he had simply thought her blood might be valuable.
Unfortunately, after some research, he found that her blood had no different effect from that of an ordinary lizardman, so he dropped the matter.
"Yes, my lord."
Crusch Lulu spoke respectfully, picked up the potion bottle of dragon blood from the table, and swallowed all the blood inside in one gulp.
She didn't care what this red liquid was.
The human man before her could easily kill her and also resurrect her. If he wanted to kill her, he wouldn't need to go through so much trouble.
After drinking the dragon blood, Crusch Lulu felt a warm sensation spread throughout her body, which began to feel a little hot.
"What do you feel?" Tang Zheng asked curiously while observing her.
Crusch Lulu honestly reported what she felt.
After listening, Tang Zheng was somewhat surprised and dumbfounded. Dragon blood contained a trace of a curse's power and could even make a creature that drank it go berserk.
The evil spirit hounds had become extremely agitated and lost their minds after drinking dragon blood.
Yet, the Crusch Lulu before him only felt a little hot, with no other abnormalities.
"Is it because of the 'Lizardman Awakened Ancient Species' race Class, or because of the 'Dragon Rune Mentor' Job?"
Tang Zheng grew increasingly interested. He took out several more potion bottles of dragon blood. "Remove all this straw from your body, then continue drinking."
The reason she was always wrapped in straw wasn't just because of her unusual white lizardman features, but more because albino lizardmen were afraid of sunlight and had poorer vision.
Wrapping her body in straw could avoid direct sunlight and also offer some protection for her eyesight.
After Crusch Lulu removed all the straw from her body, revealing her pure white figure, she proceeded to drink all the dragon blood, one gulp after another.
As the dragon blood continuously entered her stomach, her body began to emit a higher temperature. Beads of sweat emerged from the gaps between her fine scales.
Faint white steam even began to rise from her entire body.
If this was just the external appearance, what Tang Zheng was focused on was Crusch Lulu's aura, which was beginning to strengthen. "Ninjutsu: Detect."
Enhanced by the detection magic, Tang Zheng could clearly see the stream-like blue light on her body rapidly deepening in color.
"Level 16?"
Tang Zheng's eyes narrowed.
After he revived her, Crusch Lulu had lost two levels, dropping to Level 15. Now, she had gained another level.
*Shua—*
Suddenly!
On Crusch Lulu's neck and arms, distinctive red linear patterns appeared.
"Aaargh!!"
Crusch Lulu couldn't help but let out a beast-like roar, and a savage emotion appeared in her clear red pupils.
"Bad people... my tribe... everyone!"
Crusch Lulu muttered to herself, her voice starting small and growing louder until it became an almost deafening roar.
*Bang!*
Crusch Lulu stomped her feet hard on the ground, raised her fairly sharp claws, and pounced toward Tang Zheng.
"Lost control."
Faced with this situation, Tang Zheng looked thoroughly interested instead. He raised his eyelids. "Charm Species."
The charging Crusch Lulu instantly froze in place.
The savage emotion in her eyes shifted to a daze, yet there were faint signs of a struggle, causing her facial expression to become somewhat twisted and ferocious.
"Oh, she has some resistance to mental charm-type magic."
Tang Zheng clearly felt his charm magic being resisted, but his power far exceeded hers, and he easily suppressed it.
"A small amount of dragon blood has no effect, but will she also be affected if she drinks too much?"
Time passed bit by bit.
The savage emotion in Crusch Lulu's eyes gradually dissipated, and her struggling facial expression relaxed. The distinctive red patterns on her neck and arms also vanished along with it.
"Were those red patterns just now a passive ability of the 'Dragon Rune Mentor'?"
Seeing no notification on the stat panel, a thought moved through Tang Zheng's mind, and he released the 'Charm Species' spell.
"My lord."
Crusch Lulu's eyes became clear again, looking a little bewildered.
She now felt an unprecedented sense of ease throughout her body. Even the feeling of weakness from previously casting 'Cloud Manipulation' had disappeared along with it.
(end of chapter)